GUILT PLEDGE ============================= Thank Lord British and prove your virtue with a $10 donation. If you ever pirated an Ultima game or used an exploit to grief other players in Ultima Online, here’s your chance to repent! For your $10 donation you will receive a clear conscience and Lord British's undying gratitude.

Compared to CRPG Kickstarter projects like Torment and Project Eternity, this looks absolutely 'meh'. Then again, I have no history with the Ultima games...maybe nostalgic gamers will be more receptive.

Compared to CRPG Kickstarter projects like Torment and Project Eternity, this looks absolutely 'meh'. Then again, I have no history with the Ultima games...maybe nostalgic gamers will be more receptive.

Yup, other than Garriott being attached to it, this seems to have nothing in particular going for it, yet they have raised 400k already.

The guy had $20 million to drop for a trip into space but needs a kicks starter to do his own game?

I loved the early Ultima games as a kid but this guy hasn't done squat in game design in over 20 years. I see no reason to believe he can deliver anything good. Its sounds harsh but I just smell another old game developer wanting to cash in on the kickstarter craze.

“It’s been about 15 years since I’ve gone back to my fantasy role-playing game roots in particular,” he tells me. “I think that the industry has evolved and the genre of role-playing games in particular has evolved in a direction that has left a large opening for me. I kind of put role-playing games into two general categories: One I’ll put my work into, which is sort of sandbox realities, where you get invited into this world.

“Not only is there a deep, rich story that unfolds, but also you can do all kinds of things at your own pace, whether that’s to be a shopkeeper or to be an adventurer or to be a blacksmith. They’re all richly detailed ways in which to play in that world. Whereas if you compare that to, say, EverQuest or World of Warcraft, in those games, every player is first and foremost a combatant.”

And on the multiplayer aspects:

Quote

Shroud of the Avatar is a game that first and foremost can be played both offline and online, so it’s a very high-quality story-driven single-player game. That being said, if you are online, it will also search for people you know, by whatever means it can, whether you give us access to your contacts list or your social media connections. We’ll search for people you know and automatically bring them into the purview of your game.”

“You will literally be able to see them walking around in the world with you. You don’t have to party. You don’t have to group. It just happens automatically. So it’s not exactly massively multiplayer. We’re not going to bother putting 10,000 people you don’t know on screen in front of you. But if we can’t find anybody you do know, we will put some people you don’t know on screen in front of you, so the world feels rich and full. But it’s in this interesting line. It’s not, strictly speaking, single-player, but definitely not massively multiplayer.”

.

I copied Smoove B's response from OO. It's quasi-multiplayer.

Logged

Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it - Mark Twain

Two Legends of Gaming join forces! International and New York Times Best-selling fantasy author Tracy Hickman is pleased to announce that he is joining Richard Garriott’s team as Lead Story Designer for ‘Shroud of the Avatar.’

“There is a tremendous opportunity to create something meaningful, challenging and wondrous in Shroud of the Avatar,” Tracy said. “I’m thrilled to play a part in it.”

"Tracy is not only a good friend, but also a master storycrafter whose writing I've greatly admired for over twenty years," says Richard Garriott. "Tracy’s talent will add a unique richness and depth to Shroud of the Avatar."

Tracy is known world-wide for creating the incredible worlds and stories of Dragonlance, the Deathgate Cycle, the Annals of Drakis and ‘Wayne of Gotham’. He, with his wife Laura, pioneered the use and integration of story into role playing games. He currently has over fifty books in print and is also a pioneer in the New Media publishing world of e-books and online serial publishing.

Just as Richard Garriott conceived the original Ultimas as a Trilogy of Trilogies (Ultimas 1 thru 9), he has conceived Shroud of the Avatar as encompassing five, full-length games. Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is the first of this epic story, referred to as an Episode, with an estimated release date of October 2014. Forsaken Virtues will stand on its own as a full-length game, with at least 40+ hours of content (and probably much more).

Shroud of the Avatar: Episode 2, will be a second, full-length standalone sequel to Forsaken Virtues, released approximately one year after Forsaken Virtues. The remaining 3 episodes are planned to be released one per year, all as standalone games. They will utilize the same game engine, allowing players to migrate back and forth, traveling a continuum across all Episodes! Once released to the public, each Episode is expected to be priced as a full retail product!

To show our appreciation for early backers, we have added the new $80 Royal Artisan tier that not only includes the DRM-free, digital download version of Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues (Episode 1), but ALSO includes the DRM-free, digital download versions of the next TWO, full-length, standalone games! Shroud of the Avatar Episode 2 and Episode 3 (including Beta access to Episodes 2 & 3)! In addition to getting all three games, this exciting new tier is chocked-full of exciting goodies. Check it out in more detail in Update #16!

Logged

Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

Now you can get 5 Full Games at the $125 tier (and above)! In addition to Episodes 1, 2 and 3, we're including DRM-free, digital download versions of the final TWO, full-length, standalone games, Shroud of the Avatar Episode 4 and Episode 5 (including Beta access to Episodes 4 & 5)! That's a lot of games for only $125!!

of course if they are planning on doing Kickstarters for the other 4 episodes that may come back to bite them in the ass. Between the official website and Kickstarter it's hit 1.4 million, so taming is unlocked. I'll be surprised if they hit 1.5 though since things have definitely slowed down.

Logged

Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay

Kickstarter Backers can Purchase/Upgrade Pledges at Initial Prices for One Year!

We took a cue from our buds over at Star Citizen and decided that those who pledged during our initial campaign (at $25 First Responder tier and above) will be able to purchase further tiers, or upgrade existing ones, at the same price they were available during the Kickstarter campaign (pending availability of limited tiers)! WooHoo!

New Tiers, Add-Ons, and the Layaway Plan!

We are currently designing the new tiers for brand new backers, and should have those available by end-of-day Sunday, April 14th, at the conclusion of our current one-week grace period. It is our intention for all Kickstarter backers to be able to purchase/upgrade to both the previous tiers (pending availability of limited tiers), and the new tiers, whereas new backers after April 14th will only have access to the new tiers.

We are just about ready to go live with a new version of our web store that includes add-ons that all backers can add to their pledges. Keep an eye out for that sometime later this week, or early next week.

Also, we received many requests by people that wanted to purchase the more expensive tiers but couldn't afford to pay it all at once. We are working on a plan that will allow monthly payments towards tier purchases. The total cost of a tier paid for monthly may be higher than paying all at once, but we're still working out the details. You'll hear more about this in a future update.

Logged

Because I can,also because I don't care what you want.XBL: OriginalCeeKayWii U: CeeKay